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Friday, January 31, 2014

Since many of you who read and follow this blog are somewhat newer, and because I'm now reaching an extended audience through Google+, I thought I'd dig through the archives of this blog and re-post some d30 downloads from the past. Some of these were intended for the d30 Sandbox Companion but were left on the cutting room floor. Others were intended for the d30 DM Companion but didn't really make sense there.

d30 Named Magical Swords

All of the named swords on this chart do come from either history or legend/myth, but probably aren't nearly as strong/powerful as they could be for magic swords of their reputation — there's only so much info you can get on 1 page. Without getting into a multi-page, full-blown description of the items, what's on this chart should get the broad strokes across. Obviously, feel free to enhance, add to, or otherwise expand upon these. [Originally posted 8/17/12] To download a free PDF of this d30 Named Magic Swords chart, click here.

Let's face it, when it comes to dinosaurs, "you can't tell the players without a program." And forget about trying to look at the length of the damn things in correlation to their hit dice, and then guessing the basic shape of the dinosaur from the number of attacks or special armor class conditions. And then there's the fact that what we used to call the "brontosaurus" in the 70s and 80s is now officially the "apatosaurus." Consider this your program. It includes all of the major prehistoric players (dinosaurs and pterosaurs) covering all the bases of the 1e MM, BX Blue, and module X1, as well as newer discoveries that post-date those editions (like the velociraptor.) [Originally posted 5/25/12]To download a free PDF of this d30 Dinosaur Encounter/Stats Page from MediaFire, click here.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

DESCRIPTION
This malodorous cousin to both skunks and bears (but not owlbears) is found in a range of climates from temperate to sub-arctic, and in a variety of terrains (including light-to-heavy forests, mountainous areas, and tundra regions). While they will often take shelter in their dens and sleep for extended periods during winter months, they are not true hibernators, waking often to hunt and forage before returning to sleep.

Typically, skunkbears are solitary in nature, but will sometimes den in close proximity to other skunkbear dens when centered around an important food source. In these instances, a hierarchy of dominance is established, with adult males taking the place of dominance. Ironically, it is the females with young that are actually the most aggressive, especially in combat (given them a +1 bonus on all “to hit” rolls when fighting aggressors in the presence of their young). This mother-young bond is the sole social relationship among skunkbears. Since skunkbears are mammalian in nature, they birth live (as opposed to owlbears that lay eggs).

In combat, if a skunkbear makes successful “to hit” rolls with both of his claw attacks, then he succeeds in capturing his opponent in a bear hug, in which case the skunkbear’s bite automatically hits (with no additional “to hit” roll necessary). Once a victim is in the bear hug, the skunkbear will automatically do 3d6 in squeezing damage and 1d8 in bite damage per round to the victim (no “to hit” rolls necessary) until the victim is dead or the skunkbear has been killed.

Once per day, a skunkbear is able to use a spray attack, in which a horrific smelling spray is used to disable a victim. On a successful “to hit” roll with this spray attack, the victim must save vs. breath weapon or stand stunned for 4d6 rounds. Furthermore, if the saving throw is failed by 10 or more points, the victim is also knocked unconscious for that duration. Anyone within a 20' range of a sprayed victim must save vs. breath weapon or suffer a -1 “to hit” penalty while they are within range and the victim is still soaked with the spray. This overpowering smell will remain with the victim for 4d6 days unless the victim washes thoroughly (at least 3 times with a very strong lye soap) or being cleaned through magical means (e.g., a purification spell).

Description: Skunkbears have fur ranging in color from brown to brownish-black, with younger skunkbears being marked by white stripe down its back, and the stripe tending to run silver in older skunkbears. The eyes of a skunkbear are jet black.

Get it in print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95).
And right now, Lulu is having a Valentine's sale. Use the code AMOR14 and get 14% off sitewide.

At midnight CST tonight, the prices on both the print and PDF editions will go up to their normal price.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

I don't think this is perfect by any means (e.g, it really only creates "flower" type plant monsters, as opposed to bushes, trees, etc.), and I've probably missed a few glaring typos, but I think what's here is definitely workable. If you're going to download this, you might as well use yesterday's New Monster Worksheet to detail your results and flesh out the other details.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Since I'm trying to get myself back into "new monster mode" I though I'd develop a New Monster Worksheet that I could use to flesh out new monsters. BTW, have I mentioned this thing is for use when developing new monsters?

I've tried to make it as system flexible as possible, and know that everybody won't use every space on the sheet. E.g., as a BX/LL guy, I like the use of the "Save as" stats for monsters (instead of the 1e "Magic Resistance" stat). Also, I'm not a THAC0 person, but I know some people are.

If you have any thoughts for revision/improvement, please leave a comment below and I'll take them into consideration.

Monday, January 20, 2014

First off, thank you all again for the wonderful reception to the d30 Sandbox Companion. Except for a few hours on a few different days which have featured some great new releases from both large and small publishers, it has been maintaining the #1 spot at RPGNow for three weeks straight (as of today). And if that wasn't surprise enough, I noticed on the RPGNow page this morning that it is now listed under the header "New from Top Publishers." The titles in this section rotate and I just happened to catch it this morning, so I'm not sure when I became a "top publisher" at RPGNow, but that kind of blows me away. So thank you to all who bought, and use, and talk/blog/etc. about the d30 Sandbox Companion. You are the real reason for these overwhelming results.

I have no doubt this has been due in large part to Erik Tenkar who has blogged about (or at least mentioned) the d30 Sandbox Companion in more than a half-dozen blog posts, as well has his interview with Gaming Ballistic. And speaking of Gaming Ballistic, Welbo and I had the privilege of being interviewed by Douglas Cole at GB on Friday evening. When the interview has been transcribed and edited and posted, I'll make sure to put a link/post here. (BTW, Doug, like many of us in the gaming blogosphere, runs things out of his pockets, and the transcriptions of his interviews are an out-of-pocket cost for him; if you'd like to donate to offset his costs, you can do that from the Gaming Ballistic home page.) And here's Doug's original d30 post at Gaming Ballistic.

There area a few other bloggers out there that have given more than a fair share of kind words to the d30 Sandbox Companion, and I'd like to thank them here as well.

Friday, January 17, 2014

First off, welcome to the re-boot of Friday's regular d30 feature. This should be the first of a good run for a while (as I have some more concepts in the can, ready to flesh out).

I'm a huge fan of the show Ancient Aliens. Actually, I'm a fan of H2 in general. It is a constant source of good gaming ideas, regardless of what idiocy comes out of the mouth of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos. Anyway... last week, I was watching a rerun of Season 5's "finale" about monoliths, and thought to myself, "Hey! d30 Lithic Locations Generator!"

Okay, you got me. I didn't say that exactly, but that's what I was thinking.
The actual name didn't come until later.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Today's new monster is inspired by this John R. Neill illustration
from the Frank Baum book Ojo in Oz. (Yes, that Oz.)

Snatching Serpent

Illustration by John R. Neill

DESCRIPTION
Simply put, snatching serpents are kleptomaniacs. They make their homes in hollow trees near well-traveled roads where they wait to prey upon unsuspecting passers-by. A snatching serpent will crawl into the leafy cover of an overhanging limb, drop down quickly and quietly, snatch up whatever item or items they can grab with their finger-like eye-stalks (picking pockets as a 10th level thief), and deposit the spoils in the hollow of their tree lair.

While they are prone to retreat from encounters outside their lairs (morale of 5), they are also fiercely protective of their horde (morale of 11). When forced to attack, they choose one of two methods: they will use branches as clubs (doing 1d4 on a successful "to hit" roll), or they will attempt to grasp their opponent and squeeze. Normally, this squeeze will only do 1-2 points on a successful "to hit" roll. However, on a natural 20, a snatching serpent will have successfully grabbed the opponent's throat, and will not let go until the opponent has suffocated or the snatching serpent has been killed.

Monday, January 13, 2014

First off, I do have to thank you all for helping make the d30 Sandbox Companion #1 at RPGNow.com for almost two weeks straight (apart from a few hours on the evening that it was overtaken by the re-release of Gazetteer #1, and a few hours last night when Kristian Richards released Basic Dungeon Tiles Expansion Set 1 - which I believe will recapture the #1 spot again before many of you read this). I also thank you all for helping make the print edition #1 at Lulu.com off-and-on for few days now, not to mention helping the d30 DM Companion print edition climb as high as #5 at Lulu.com this week (something I don't think it did even during its initial release!) There's also an interview in the works with Gaming Ballistic, for those who will be interested in seeing my ugly mug (as well as Welbo's), as we discuss the d30 Companions' origins, development, etc. (BTW, Gaming Ballistic is GURPS heavy, so I'm happy to see the d30SBC's acceptance outside the OSR).

As for the headline of this blog...
I promise, I'm not resting on my d30 laurels. But I also won't be making the same mistake I made back in February of 2012 when I announced the d30 Sandbox Companion. It was a tad premature. Given the relatively short development time of the d30 DM Companion, I assumed a similar schedule for the d30SBC. Little did I know it would end up being almost 70% longer than its predecessor. So, if you're looking here for the announcement of the next d30 book, you're not going to find it... YET. What you are going to find is this, though...

Beginning this Friday, it's back to d30 business-as-usual.
That's right, beginning this friday, I'm going back to making a weekly post of a new d30 chart as a PDF for download. This friday's chart is going to be a "d30 Lithic Location Generator" (think monoliths, stonehenge, stone circles, dolmens, etc.). It's already completed, and waiting with Welbo for a brief look-over. I've also brainstormed a list of over a dozen more (that's usually the hard part). These new charts/tables will not be specifically sandbox-oriented. In fact, a few would be more at home in the d30DMC (e.g., a Dungeon Doors table that goes well beyond the small one in the upper right corner of p. 8 of the d30DMC, including specifics regarding style, size, thickness, modifiers to attempts to open, etc. - or that's the plan). That does not mean there's plans for an expanded version of either, or a new one entirely. I'm just going to keep developing new downloads, and see what shakes out.

Beginning this Wednesday, it's back to new creature business-as-usual.
I'm also trying to get back on schedule with my monster of the week posts. I've come up with a few really fun, and really "old-school" style creatures that are almost as goofy as they are cool (e.g., the snatcher serpent, and the stinking pile), but my attention has been so focused on the release of the d30SBC and the playtesting of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, that I've let this lapse.

There's always more going on.
But for now, mention of those things here will remain unspoken.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Last night wasn't so much of a "playtest" of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, as it was a chance to put the encounter/player stats through the ringer. It consisted mostly of rolling d6s, doing some minor math, and trying a bunch of variants.

After the first playtest, were afraid of some of the encounters being too deadly, and others being too much of a pushover. But after a discussion of potential player strategies, we came to the following conclusions:

1) Math is hard.
Seriously... when you're rolling multiple d6s (e.g., one person is rolling 2d6, and the other is rolling 3d6), and then each side gets bonuses to the roll (e.g., 2d6+3 vs 3d6+2), and then you have to subtract the lower roll from the higher, it slows the hell things down! Not what we want in this kind of game. It's different when all of the penalties/bonuses are to a single target number on an attack roll. But when there are modifiers to two opposing rolls, and then you have find the difference, it was WAY too cumbersome.

2) Encounters should be deadly.
The worst that happens is that you "start over" from your home space with a "new" Player Party. Early on in the game, the risk for the Experience Points earned is worth the chance of losing anything you've got. Late in the game, you've hopefully earned enough XP that the encounters aren't so deadly.

3) The pushover encounters are really there as a nuisance.
They force the end of your turn, and the Experience Points earned are almost insignificant. Early on the game, they provide the chance of "safely" earning Experience Points. Late in the game, they remain a nuisance as you race to complete the quest (and win the game).

Here's the conclusion to which we came...
"It was fine the way it was. It needed some tweaks, but not an overhaul."

I think we Welbo and tested the game on New Year's Day, we played it too safe. We were both trying to avoid encounters and acquire the quest items as quickly as possible, and we paid for it... with our lives! (We were playing the "quick" game option where you didn't "start over" when you died, you were just out of the game. We're thinking about eliminating this play option altogether; hopefully it will change the player strategies, so they're not so concerned with dying that they're always trying to play it safe.)

The next full playtest should be interesting. We're looking at trying it through Roll20. If that goes well, we'll probably start reaching out for other virtual playtesters the last week of this month.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Since I've had a couple of requests for alternate ratios for the Hex Crawl Worksheets from the d30 Sandbox Companion, I've put together a free d30 Sandbox supplement - Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack. It's got the Hex Crawl Worksheet in 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1 ratios (4:1 is the ratio that's been on my free download page for quite some time, 5:1 is the old Judges Guild Standard, and 6:1 is what appears in the final d30 SBC). There are also geomorph-style blank hex mapping pages (which, should you choose to do so, could be printed, cut out, and "pieced" together).

Monday, January 6, 2014

I could never have asked for such an overwhelming reception to the d30 Sandbox Companion. I am truly blown away by everyone's response. If you'd asked me a week ago if I thought I'd be the #1 download at RPGNow for entire week, I'd have told you I would feel lucky just to break the top 20. And if you'd asked me if I thought I thought it would garner six 5-star ratings, I'd have told you, "I'm very proud of the way the book turned out, I (with Welbo's assistance) spent a lot of time making sure the book provided a lot of great DM tools (without fluff), and I hope that everybody gets some use out of it."

I have no doubt that the sales over the last few days are due in no small part to Erik Tenkar's coverage on his blog. With nearly 8,500 people in his Google+ circles, and with his blog posts being reposted by a lot of different OSR RPG web content aggregators, his review on Friday (along with a giveaway of PDF copies), it really helped spread the word.

BTW, congrats to Brutorz Bill, Fred Bednarski and DacholaEtecoon, who won the free copies via Erik's blog. Also, a note to Moe and Robert (winners of my goods from Erik's 12 Days of OSR Christmas Giveaway), I have been delayed in getting print items out to you, so I've emailed you free PDFs of the d30 Sandbox Companion, and hope to get your various print items in the mail this afternoon.

"Best $4.95 an Old School DM could spend in 2014 on gaming."-erik f. t. t. (a.k.a. Erik Tenkar) (★★★★★)

"I'm a big fan of New Big Dragon products and this one is my favorite. I'm creating a campaign and the D30 Sandbox companion is now on top of a small pile of books I'm using to aid me in building a world. It's concise, so you won't get lost in hundreds of pages trying to find a chart you want to use. It's useful, there is something in here to develop various parts of your campaign. I highly recommend the D30 Sandbox Companion, especially if you are into building your own worlds."-Tim S. (I'm assuming this is Tim Shorts; if it's a different Tim S., thank you!) (★★★★★)

And print buyers, don't think I'm leaving you out. Not only have you put the d30 Sandbox Companion print edition at #2 in their Top 10 for the week in the gaming section, the d30 DM Companion print edition is #9. I don't think the d30 DM Companion cracked the top 10 when it was initially released!

For all those that purchased print copies and emailed me for PDFs:
If you haven't seen an RPGNow email with the link to your PDF copy, check your spam folders. There's a handful of copies that have not been redeemed yet. If you still don't see an email from RPGNow, email me again and I'll see if I can resolve.

Get the d30 Sandbox Companionin print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95), and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95). These introductory prices will only be good until January 30, 2014.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

Friday, January 3, 2014

I am humbled by it's reception, and the three 5-star reviews it's garnered.

"... virtually essential for anyone wanting to create a fantasy world (irrespective for the most part of rule system) who would like to take some of the donkey-work out of it."-Megan R. (★★★★★)

"Tables of infinite inspiration! Either handpick or randomize the results from these tables to run great sessions with zero preparation! Or use this as a writing aid to create complex, multidimensional adventures, and even use it to develop entire campaign settings! Supplied here is more than enough for DMs to pick from so you can emphasize the details important to you and your group.

I strongly suggest using this along with New Big Dragon's other accessory, the d30 DM Companion. This set is one of the best DM resources I have ever seen!"-Jeffrey K. (★★★★★)

Get the d30 Sandbox Companionin print from Lulu.com at an introductory price of $9.86 (on sale from $10.95), and as a PDF from RPGNow.com at an introductory price of $4.95 (on sale from $5.95). These introductory prices will only be good until January 30, 2014.

And don't forget, if you buy a print copy, send proof of your Lulu.com order to d30SBPrint@newbigdragon.com and I'll send you a free PDF copy (via RPGNow).

If you've already purchased both PDF and print copies of the d30 Sandbox Companion, send me proof of your print purchase from Lulu.com and I'll send you a PDF (via RPGNow) of the d30 DM Companion or the Valley of the Five Fires (indicate in your email which one you'd like to receive).

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Welbo and I met yesterday to run the first official playtest of the Valley of the Five Fires Microgame, and I am more than pleased by the results. Regardless of the detail, play was moderately quick and easy to pick up. More importantly, play really captures the spirit of the module, which was the intention. There is a lot of rich detail to the setting that really comes through in the monster, place, and special encounters.

Really, at this point, we only see two minor issues which need some refinement:

1) the spaces on the map -
are there enough, and are the placed to be fair to all 4 players?

2) the balance of monster attack dice/wound points -
are they balanced enough to provide a challenge but not be unfairly deadly should the player encounter one?

Honestly, if these are the biggest issues at this point, we're in good shape! (I shouldn't get cocky, though. There are a lot of Special NPC encounters we have yet to play through fully.)

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Yesterday, I took a look back at 2013, so today I'll take a look ahead at 2014. Honestly, a lot of what I have in store for two-zero-one-four will seem familiar. Most of it was started back in 2013 and, being the ADD (that's A-D-D, not A-D-and-D) type that I am, I just had too much going. So you'll see my initial goals for 2014 are ones of completion more than instigation.

Community Geomorph Project
Now that d30 Sandbox Companion has been put to bed (BTW, thanks for 2 days straight of being at #1 at RPGNow), this is now my highest priority. The group of you that sent in geomorphs as part of the 2nd round call have probably been thinking, "What the hell?" for quite some time. My current goal is to have that round completed for review by mid-January, then make a third and final call for geomorphs for the initial edition (as I imagine it will expand over time). I'm still trying to decide the best way for this project to benefit the CCFA, and hope to have that figured out in the next few weeks as well.

The Lost Catacombs of Kadmos
Many of you may remember this from my A-to-Z blog posts during April. After a couple of play sessions, I realized there were a lot of encounters that were great conceptually, but LOUSY at the table. It also needs a lot of illustrations (the "show-the-players" kind, a la Tomb of Horrors). I've actually got a completely revised map and a set of updated encounters ready to go in Roll20. I'm still getting the hang of running a game there, but if any of you might be interested in heeding Kadmos's call for first-level adventurers (either in BX/LL or a modified BX/LL), drop a comment below and let me know which nights are good for you (except Mondays). I'll update more on this later, probably mid-to-late February. I'm also thinking about running this at the North Texas RPG Con should it be ready and my schedule allow.

Dragon Horde Zine #2
I have a good number of the articles written, but I have a few new spells I'd like to add, and the adventure needs a bit of reworking. I think I can have this ready to go be the end of January. If I get my inkjet printer repaired, I will most likely be offering print copies of both this issue, and issue #1. The interior will be printed on my laser printer, but it can't handle the cover stock I have in mind for the cover.

Valley of the Five Fires Microgame
Okay, I'm super-freaking-excited about this one. I've written a microgame based on my Valley of the Five Fires module. In fact, as many of you are reading this, Welbo and I are actually playtesting it (our first scheduled gaming activities of 2014). The game is designed for 2-4 players and is sort of a "race" to acquire the Luuzhin Coins (the artifacts from the module). As you can tell from the counters pictured here, there are encounters with phase giants, crimson death worms, etc. I think it really captures everything I love about the setting from the module, but encapsulates it into a Task Force Games style microgame. After Welbo and I run through it a couple of times and I order some test prints of the counters and such, we'll be sending out a few playtest copies (recruitment information to come). I'm thinking April release for this.

Creature Compendium

Let's face it, I'm just going to keep creating new creatures, and at some point I'm going to just have to say, "Enough already, if this is ever going to see the light of day as a finished work." I'm thinking this will end up as a PDF PWWY beta release that will update over time, and I'll hold off on a print copy until I feel like it's complete. But I'm not sure.

Gateway to Adventure

This is a project I dug into on my iPad while my wife and I were staying in the hotel that we called home while Winter Storm Cleon had our power knocked out. It's a setting for 1st-5th level characters in a traditional fantasy vein (think of a sandboxy-style group of adventures akin to the D&D B-module series.) I don't want to say much else about this yet because I don't want to detract from the things above that are my "first quarter" focus. But look out for a post titled "What I did on my 'winter' vacation."

And on the blogging homefront...

There will be more monsters (which will, of course, be added to the growing list of those included in the Creature Compendium).

There will likely be posts from the next phase of Gateway to Adventure work (most likely maps for the adventure locations).

I've got my eyes set on the April A-to-Z blogging challenge (as always), but have not decided on a subject yet (maybe a selection of NPCs for Gateway to Adventure).

As for d30-oriented stuff, Welbo and I feel like we've covered a LOT of ground with the 2 completed books (the d30 DM Companion and the d30 Sandbox Companion), so the d30 stuff I do post in 2014 is likely to be a hodge-podge (though I do have some d30 monster generators in mind, but no plans for a d30 Monster Generator book... yet).